Why security of tenure matters
This content applies to England only.
Once a private tenant has found a place to live, the next challenge is for them to hold on to it.
Shelter believes for a house to be a home, it needs to be secure.
Assured shorthold tenancies
The Housing Act 1996 made assured shorthold tenancies the standard tenancy for those renting privately. The only security this type of agreement gives the tenant is that the landlord cannot evict them for the first six months of a tenancy. After that, however, unless a new tenancy is signed, the tenant can be evicted at any time with a minimum of two months notice.
This has not always been the case. Prior to the 1980s, tenants in the private rented sector had much greater security of tenure and it was much harder for landlords to evict them. However, many landlords found this situation problematic, particularly if they wished to sell their property because having a 'sitting tenant' would often reduce the value of the property.
Unfortunately, the current situation creates a lot of problems for tenants. The lack of security provided by an assured shorthold tenancy has a number of negative effects, including: lack of stability, less power for tenants to enforce their rights, and increased homelessness as a result of eviction. National figures confirm that the ending of an assured shorthold tenancy is the third most common reason for loss of settled accommodation among households accepted as homeless. [1]
The negative impacts of insecure tenancies
Both tenants and landlords are often unaware of their legal rights and responsibilities. Research has shown that many tenants don’t know their statutory rights and may not be sure what sort of tenancy they have signed up to – even when tenants are aware of their rights, they are often unwilling to try to enforce them for fear of eviction. [2]
The lack of stability for private tenants also has wider social effects. Surveys have shown that private tenants may be less likely to feel part of their local community.[3] This has an impact on neighbourhood cohesion, with private tenants less likely to know their neighbours or to be involved in their local community.
The prospect of having to move at short notice can have a particularly detrimental impact on families with children, and Government statistics highlight a significant gap in attainment at key stage 4 (age 16) between mobile and non-mobile pupils.[4]
Shelter's view
The current assured shorthold tenancy agreements mean that private tenants do not have the security they need to call their house a home - a situation Shelter believes is unacceptable.
We call on the Government to:
- improve knowledge of and adherence to the legal framework of the private rented sector by landlords, including the provision of written tenancy agreements for all tenancies
- promote longer-term tenancies that provide tenants with enhanced security, and tackle the high number of evictions under these short-term tenancies which lead to homelessness applications.
[2] Houston, D., Barr, K., and Dean, J., Research on the private rented sector in Scotland, Department of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow, 2002.
[3] Survey of English Housing, CLG.
[4] Moving On: Reconnecting Frequent Movers, DCLG, 2006
